The Art of Brokering Commercial Loans

Doc’s Secret # 2: Biggest Mistake of the New Commerical Broker

I take many calls each day as “The Money Doctor”. I receive tons of calls from broker’s around the country. These are all good, honest hardworking people. Many of these calls could have been avoided because the beginning commercial broker is not aware of the proper and proven operating strategies.

The conversation typically goes like this:

“Hey Doc, I’m new at this and I just landed a mega deal. Are you sitting down? I have signed an exclusive with a borrower for a $25M dollar deal to finance a health care facility. I sold the client that I could get the cash for him. My question is this: “Doc, where can I get a loan for this guy?”

My heart goes out to the broker and to the client! “Why didn’t you find the lender first , find out what areas the lender is interested in and what their requirements are? Then advertise for that certain type of loan? If you did this, then when your future clients call you would know where to take the loan and your clients would be seeking that specific type of loan.

If you did it this way, then all you have to do is qualify the borrower, collect the documents and package them to your lender’s request. That is much easier and will cause fewer gray hairs!
Unfortunately, these brokers are calling because they didn’t do it that way. Now the broker is scrambling for a lender , while stalling the borrower: not a good position to be in! The chances of success, of obtaining a commission on that $25M lead is slim, unless of course he wants to co-broker (and of course I’ll be happy to help! J)

Please the secret here is simple. Many brokers suffer from Lender Phobia. They are literally afraid to speak to the “Checkwriter”. Do yourself a favor and call some lenders and interview them. Lenders expect to be called by professionals. They make money when you bring them good loans. They want your business.

There are many broker friendly commercial lenders. It is important for your career to begin to groom your lending relationships. These are the people that will put money into your pocket month after month.